Page 24 of Dancing With Desire

“We can leave if it makes you feel better,” she offers, but I know she loves this place, and we are safe here. I give my head a shake, and she smiles in relief. She crawls to the space next to me, kicking off her shoes and tucking her feet under her backside. “He also said you saw that witch today?” she asks, tucking my hair behind my ear.

I let my head flop back and stare at the ceiling. “It wasn’t as bad as I imagined it to be,” I admit. “I thought I’d either break down in panic or . . . kill her.”

“It’s what she deserves,” she mutters.

“Maybe it’s good that I saw her,” I say with a shrug. “I’m terrified every time I walk outside that I’ll see them, and now I have, and the worst didn’t happen.”

“You’ve seen Vivian. Vladimir is a whole different ball game,” she points out.

“But surely, it’ll get easier with time. Today, Vivian, another day, Vladimir. And they have no reason to come after me now. They don’t know I’ve told Dmitry about them, and I’m not with him anymore.”

“Two very important things,” she says, sitting upright. “First, you’re having his baby, and they know that. Second, Dmitry isn’t giving up on you. He wants you back, and I can’t see that stopping anytime soon. The second he sees you with his baby, he’s going to make you forgive him.”

“You think I have no willpower?” I accuse.

“I know you don’t,” she says with a smirk, “but I’m here for the grovel. Hell, I love that you’re making him work for it. But let’s not pretend it’s over, Tori. We both know it isn’t.”

I groan, nudging her with my shoulder. “You’re meant to be the sensible one here.”

“Well, maybe I’ve realised that being sensible isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. And it doesn’t suit you either, Tori.”

“What do you mean?”

“You,” she says with a sigh. “You’re giving up on what you want because those fuckers think you’re not good enough.”

“They wanted to kill me,” I remind her.

“The old Tori wouldn’t have taken their shit.”

I frown. “I haven’t changed.”

“So, why are you sitting here letting them dictate your life?” A smile forms on her face. “If you want to piss them off?—”

“I don’t,” I cut in.

“The only way to stop all this worrying is to face them, no?”

“Definitely not,” I say firmly. “Marshall would go mad if he could hear you now.”

She laughs. “He’s outside talking to Dmitry on the phone. Apparently, there’s some gala event he’s got to go to.”

I picture Dmitry in his suit and smile.I love him in a suit.“He hates those things,” I mutter.

“I know what would make it better,” she says. “If he had a date.”

“Have you heard yourself?” I demand. “This isn’t like you at all. You didn’t like Dmitry, remember?”

“I’m not saying get back with him if that’s not what you want. But don’t hide away. Who the fuck are they to tell you to stay away from him? You’re having his baby. Make them see you’re strong.”

“And if they kill me?”

She smirks. “They wouldn’t dare.”

Marshall comes in looking at his phone. When he senses us both staring at him, he looks up. “What?”

“Tori wants to go with Dmitry this evening,” Phoebe tells him.

“No,” he says bluntly.

---